This guy seems to possess a skillset this receiver room lacks. Really excited!

Yes,

Only Ross has catching like this. Now I'm interested to see if he can translate to NFL.

With Reid scheming he will get open looks. Catch the ball.......

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SMU WR Rashee Rice<br>HT/WT: 6&#39;1&quot; / 204<br>Arm/Hand: 32.75&quot; / 9.5&quot;<br>40: 4.51<br>10: 1.49<br>Vert: 41&quot;<br>Broad: 10&#39;8&quot;<br><br>Brandon Aiyuk <br>HT/WT: 6&#39;0&quot; / 205<br>Arm/Hand: 33.5&quot; / 9.75&quot;<br>40: 4.50<br>10: 1.52<br>Vert: 40&quot;<br>Broad: 10&#39;8&quot;</p>&mdash; Chris Trapasso �� (@ChrisTrapasso) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisTrapasso/status/1632571688826068992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

separation should not be a problem for him with those numbers. that broken toe had to have impacted him.

Love the Aiyuk comparison!

Closer to Aiyuk or Hopkins?

I was surprised to see that he’s taller than Hopkins.

I see the Hopkins splash plays.

The outmuscling, leaping, contested catches scream D-hop.

The guy who can jump up in a crowd and come down with the football anyway. That's Big-time. Especially in redzone where it gets crowded.

As for drops, that can be worked on. I remember a guy who wore 88 dropping a ridiculous amount of passes, and then going on to be one of the most prolific pass catchers in Chiefs history.

Jody Fortson

Well here's hoping he's more valuable than Jody.

Kollman writes for the chargers and spent all season picking against the chiefs so take it fwiw

This is my hope. he looks pretty good in that 2022 vid, but he lacks burst, which might've been due to the toe.

Though you watch that clip of him vs. Bryant and Sauce (which was from 2021?), and he allows himself to be pressed out to the boundary a couple times, and he really doesn't get open except on a play where Sauce is playing zone and another when he puts a nice double move on Bryant at the end. And Rice really doesn't get open on the zone play until late in the route.

He does look a bit like DHop in certain respects, obviously with his high-pointing ability and athleticism, but also his aggressiveness/physicality in the mid-stem part of his routes. He works hard to create leverage and isn't afraid to mix it up to put the DB on his back.

Curiously he seems to play softer in his releases, which is how Sauce/Bryant were able to redirect him pretty easily during the release. If he consistently runs his releases that way in the NFL, he's going to have problems early on, except when he's schemed open, because he lacks the elite burst/speed to just run away from DBs.

That kind of thing should be fixable though. The drops and the fumbles are also concerning, but there is a lot of potential with this kid. I could see him becoming a Sammy Watkins level WR, except without the injury issues (fingers crossed). That would be a nice get as a long-term solution if it worked out that way.

P.S. the guy that would help him develop the most is actually probably DHop. No one better at the position in the technical/mechanical aspects of route-running at all levels, hand-fighting during the release, footwork, etc.

Overall, i like what I'm seeing from Rice. Lot of really good with this guy.

Watching 2021 videos, you see more separation in those than in his 2022 videos. Lends some credence to the idea the toe injury held him back.

If you were excited about Quentin Johnston or intrigued by the idea of trading for Brandon Aiyuk, you should like Rice. He and Aiyuk are basically physical clones.

I see more AJ brown than Aiyuk

Chiefs-ish as in drafting like a team that has been to 3 super bowls in 4 years? Or perhaps Chiefs-ish meaning drafting like a team that wins a championship with tons of rookies playing significant roles.